China’s expansion of laws targeting Taiwan is meant to provide justification of the use of force against the country, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on Tuesday.
Since the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) “Anti-Secession” Law took effect in 2005, Beijing has launched a series of “legal wars” against Taiwan, including the June 21 announcement of a set of legal guidelines targeting advocates of Taiwanese independence, Chiu said.
“These activities have violated international laws and the cross-strait reality,” he said, adding that Chinese laws have no jurisdiction over Taiwanese.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Beijing’s threats against so-called Taiwanese independence activists would not be supported by the international community and would not improve cross-strait relations, the minister added.
Chiu made the remarks during his address at a Taipei seminar on the “Anti-Secession” Law, which turns 20 next year.
China introduced the law during the administration of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), after Chen undertook actions that Beijing viewed as provocative, such as declaring that there was one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.
The “Anti-Secession” Law reiterated the core elements of Beijing’s Taiwan policy and its red lines, including outlining the circumstances under which Beijing would consider employing “non-peaceful means” to annex Taiwan.
The guidelines released in June allow courts in China to try “Taiwanese independence separatists” in absentia.
In addition, they permit the use of the death penalty against “die-hard” advocates of Taiwanese independence convicted of inciting secession who also cause “grave harm” to the state and the Chinese people, the China-run Xinhua news agency reported at the time.
During Tuesday’s seminar, Chen Yu-jie (陳玉潔), an assistant research professor at Academia Sinica’s Institutum Iurisprudentiae, said that China has weaponized international law to push for unification.
However, the “Anti-Secession” Law and the new guidelines serve only as “cognitive warfare,” as they contravene several international laws, said Chen Yu-jie, who specializes in international law and cross-strait relations.
For example, the law’s threat to use “non-peaceful” means to unify Taiwan contravenes Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, which stipulates that “all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” she said.
The threat to use violence against Taiwan also contravenes international human rights law, she added.
Julian Ku (古舉倫), a law professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, said that China’s new guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence activists could affect not only Taiwanese, but also “anyone who engages in what they [China] define as [support for] Taiwanese independence.”
People who Beijing deems to have contravened the guidelines could also face extradition to China depending on bilateral treaties, he said.
“I think what would be useful for the Taiwan government and other governments is to make clear that such application of Chinese law to Taiwanese people and other people outside of China is improper and illegal, and that countries will not abide by a request, as such request is illegal or inconsistent with the treaty,” he said.
The seminar, “The PRC’s Anti-Secession Lawfare and Its Implications,” was organized by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Taipei-based Prospect Foundation.
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